You're not the only one late on your car loan; Trump orders AI push, and more top news

The news professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation on today's stories in the comments.

A record number of Americans — 7 million — are 90 days or more behind on their auto loans. The figure, reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is larger than the number of people who were late with payments during the financial crisis. As auto loans are usually prioritized — people often need cars to get to work, and can sleep in them if need be — the rise in car loan delinquencies indicates low-income and working-class Americans are struggling. There were over a million more “troubled borrowers” at the end of 2018 than there were in 2010, said the New York Fed. • Here’s what people are saying.

President Trump has signed an executive order committing the government in developing artificial intelligence, but did not allocate new funds for it. Following a push from industry experts and then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, the so-called American A.I. Initiative seeks to “educate workers, improve access to the cloud computing services and data needed to build A.I. systems, and promote cooperation with foreign powers,” according to The New York Times. It comes as other governments, especially China, invest in AI. • Here’s what people are saying.

Amazon is raising prices at its Whole Foods stores after suppliers cited higher costs for ingredients, packaging and transport, reports The Wall Street Journal. As contracts for hundreds of items sold at the food-store chain are expiring, they won’t be renewed, said the e-commerce giant, in an email cited by the Journal. Almost half of consumer-goods companies surveyed last week said they raised prices last year. Intense competition in the food-market industry had been keeping stores like Whole Foods from raising prices in turn. • Here’s what people are saying.

The tightening labor market has converged with the student-debt crisis to create more free community-college programs in the U.S. Most aim to fill an estimated 7 million job openings, according to The Wall Street Journal, and support two-year, government-funded degrees. Of the more than 300 programs for higher-achieving high school graduates, almost half began between 2015 and 2017 — the most recent year for which data is available. • Here’s what people are saying.

E-cigarettes have “erased” the gains the U.S. made over many years in stopping kids from using tobacco products, says the president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Around 4.9 million middle- and high-school students used tobacco products in 2018, up from 3.6 million in 2017 — a 38% increase, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise was largely driven by 1.5 million more students using e-cigarettes in 2018 than the year before. • Here’s what people are saying.

Idea of the Day: Not feeling well? Don’t go into work, begs Blue Book Ventures’ Richard A. Moran.

“Sick note in hand or not, it is usually ok to miss work if you are sick. No one wants you there spreading germs.”

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